Better benchmarks under NAPLAN reforms

NAPLAN results will become easier for parents to understand, following reforms from the Victorian Government.

Among new changes to improve and modernise NAPLAN, the tests have been moved forward to March to enable the crucial data to better support students and target assistance earlier in the year.

“The changes to NAPLAN reporting and timing will provide more informative and useful information to schools, parents and carers,” said Victorian Education Minister Natalie Hutchins.

New proficiency standards with four levels of achievement will replace the previous 10-band structure and the old national minimum standard set in 2008 when tests were on paper.

Each child’s NAPLAN report will show how they’re tracking against their peers using four easy-to-understand standards: exceeding, strong, developing and needs additional support

The proficiency standards will give a more meaningful measure of how students are progressing at time of testing and will make it easier to identify and support students who may be falling behind.

Reports to parents and carers will be clear as to whether their child’s skills are at the level they need to be for the child to get the best out of their schooling.

The test will also be fully online this year with the exception of the Year 3 writing test, which will be on paper.

NAPLAN will continue to measure student achievement in numeracy, reading, writing, spelling, grammar and punctuation.

Victoria achieved strong results in NAPLAN last year. Victorian students improved in seven of 20 measures from 2021 to 2022 and ranked first or second in the country on 12 of 20 measures.

The Victorian Government has made major investments in supporting student learning and wellbeing, including almost $740 million to employ thousands of tutors across government and non-government schools since 2021 to help students fulfil their academic potential and improve their social skills.

Image credit: iStock.com/hidesy